I was using an app on my phone as a metronome in a lesson in my home studio yesterday when a message popped up from my cousin, telling me that our last living aunt, Aunt Lila, had passed away. She was the wife of Mom’s brother, Ernest; a strong woman with a wonderful laugh. My … More On Mother’s Day
Even though there are several meetings and some school work left to do, the Christmas break has officially begun after the strangest semester of my long teaching career. I am always excited to get to the holidays, but this year is different. I think we all need a dose of the normalcy of holiday traditions … More A Merry Little Christmas
The day after our quiet Thanksgiving holiday, we headed to the tree lot at the Birmingham Zoo to select our Christmas tree. As inevitably happens, I went right to the tree that I knew was the one; I make Dan laugh, telling him I’m like that with husbands, dogs, and Christmas trees. It’s my super … More On a Medicinal Decorating Day
Gone are the wisdom-filled words, the gentle embraces, the fiercely loyal protectors, for we are the motherless on Mother’s Day. The safety net is no longer there, that someone who knew you and loved you more than anyone possibly could. There is no treasure trove of stories about our history, our beginnings, only endings. Now … More For the Motherless on Mother’s Day
I wonder what my mother would have thought of these strange days. A gentle Southern woman with a backbone of steel who lived through the Great Depression and WW II, along with facing countless other challenges and hardships over her ninety-two years. Would she have been moved to panic or remained calm in the storm? … More I Wonder
The older I become, the more like my mother I realize I have become. Okay, who are we kidding? I’ve always been Dorothy’s daughter, just as my sister, Linda, is. And just like with Mom, our beloved ‘Heavy D’, things seem to happen to us- often comical things that don’t happen to otherwise normal people. … More On Being Dorothy’s Daughter
I return to Princeton Towers at Christmastime each year in honor of my mother, Dorothy, the inimitable and beloved ‘Heavy D’ (her ‘hood name given to her by her buddies Wayne and John when she moved to be with us in Southside Birmingham). Mom has now been gone five and a half years, and I … More Christmas Cheer at the Home for Wayward Seniors
I was beginning to wonder if I’d feel it this year with all of the rushing around at break neck speed for far too long; that feeling that Mom called the ‘Christmas spirit’. I remember so well when she came under its infectious spell; she would decorate, bake cookies, hide the small gifts she was … More A Merry Little Christmas
I was so grateful to wake up in my own cozy bed this morning, Dan beside me, Marley between us, and Shiva snoozing on my chest, after being on a brief-but-fun recital tour with my best friend and duo partner. There truly is no place like home, no matter how fun the adventure is. I … More Echoes
Birmingham is in the midst of a heatwave, with ‘feels like’ temperatures in the triple digits…and our upstairs air conditioning system decided to stop working yesterday afternoon- on a Saturday. Why do these things always happen on weekends? Our second floor feels like an oven, and we are baked Chez Gainey until the repairman can … More Dreamin’ and Steamin’
The View from Here 